1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ball puzzle device and is more particularly concerned with a ball puzzle in which the balls are subject to rearrangement within a series of continuous intersecting passageways disposed on the surface of a sphere.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Puzzle devices which involve the rearrangement of groups of colored balls in passageways are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 601,924 (Wilson) shows a box-like puzzle having a base tapering towards its center and having a series of balls located in the box. One of the balls is of larger size than the rest and is located in the center of the box. The other balls are divided into two sets of different colors. The object of the game is to rearrange the balls in any predetermined manner by passing the balls one at a time over or around the center ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,206,054 (Trull) shows a puzzle with a base having a series of grooves extending from a central point and adapted to accommodate differently colored balls. The object of the exercise is to rearrange the balls within the various grooves to achieve any predetermined pattern. U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,547 (Hicks) shows a more sophisticated version of the Trull device in which the grooves are retroverted. In addition, the various passageways can have sliding gates which can be used to retain the balls in any of the passageways.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,895 (Reiner et al.) describes a maze which comprises a network of three-dimensional passageways through which marbles are permitted to pass. Certain of the passageways contain exits through which the marbles can pass to the outside of the puzzle. The object of the exercise is to cause the marbles to pass through the maze without escaping from any of the apertures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,823 (Breslow) discloses a ball puzzle which has two members rotatably joined to each other. Each of the members has a number of passageways and these passageways are spaced so that only one in each member can be aligned with a passageway in the other member at any given time. All of the passageways may contain balls and the object of the exercise is to transfer balls from passageways in one member to passageways in the other member to achieve any predetermined arrangement of the balls.
The ball puzzle devices previously known are generally of relatively simple design and construction and are not based on mathematical relationships of any degree of sophistication. The present invention relates to a device of more sophisticated construction which embodies a design based on a relatively sophisticated set of mathematical relationships. The present invention also relates to a device which is markedly more challenging and requires a higher degree of sophistication for its solution. The device, broadly speaking, is a three-dimensional variation of the well known 15-puzzle. In the latter puzzle fifteen small, numbered, square tiles of identical size are confined to the surface of a larger square which can just accommodate sixteen square tiles in a 4 by 4 matrix. By sliding tiles in turn into the one empty space the sequence of the tiles is changed. The challenge is to rearrange the tiles, starting from a random sequence, into a specified sequence. The widely acclaimed Rubik's cube.TM. is a three-dimensional variation of the 15-puzzle. The puzzle device of the present invention is similar to these known devices in its degree of challenge and sophistication.
Further, the present invention, like Rubik's cube.TM. but unlike previously known ball puzzle devices, relates to a puzzle device which is so designed and constructed that it presents not one but two independent and relatively sophisticated challenges, one of solving the puzzle (requiring relatively little manual dexterity) and the other of effecting complete solutions, once they have been learned or otherwise obtained, with great rapidity (requiring a high level of manual dexterity).